Non-academic influences
While our peers and teachers in school can have great influences on what our passions are, they are not the only ones. In my life, I have many influences that have made me into the person I am today. Those influences have greatly shaped how I choose to go about my life in both an academic and social setting.
On the home front, my parents had a huge impact on who I am today. Naturally aspects of their personality have been passed on to me genetically, but it is so much more than that. My mother, an extremely hard worker has greatly influenced my work ethics. My mom shows me that life is a lot harder than a simple teenager may believe and it requires an enormous amount of effort. I don't like leaving work to be done at the last minute. I like to have the work done early so that when the time comes to hand in the assignment I don't have to worry if I have it all completed.
My dad influenced me in a different way. While he also showed me that work was extremely important he really introduced me to the things that basically make me who I am. When my sister and I were young my dad read countless stories to us. These stories were generally under the genre of fiction or fantasy. It was from these first stories that I developed a passion for the fantastical world and made me want to create stories of my own.
From these stories I began to take on new influences. These influences were not so much the stories themselves, but, rather their authors. The creators of these fantastical tales inspired me to do something more with my life. The authors who I believe have had an enormous impact on myself and my life choices are: JRR Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Rick Riordan, and Christopher Paolini. A majority of these authors were teachers themselves which made me think of the possibility of being a teacher and a writer. Writing has always been an interesting topic for me and I have had a dream of creating my own novel series.
At first these authors were simply an inspiration because of their works, but then I began to look at them and see things I wanted to do that they themselves did. Tolkien was a partial influence on my choice of being a history professor as he himself was a history professor at Oxford in England. It was really because of Tolkien and his stories that I am who I am today. Tolkien's stories were among the first stories my dad read to me and they have always been close to my heart. C.S. Lewis was rather large for me as he worked with Tolkien for a time and I loved The Chronicles of Narnia and how they had such a deeper meaning to their stories than what is on the surface. That was a characteristic I wanted to have when going through my daily life and writing, to see if there is some deeper meaning which can be found and connected to my life. I have always found stories that tell of a world hidden underneath what we consider normal to be fascinating and I wanted to incorporate that into my own life and stories.
Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, The Kane Chronicles, and the Heroes of Olympus series. While these stories influenced my love for fantasy by bringing stories from the past into the present, giving them new life in the modern world, Riordan meant something more. Rick Riordan for a time was an English teacher. Riordan was teaching first and then decided to start writing. For a time he did both at the same time, though recently he has left the teaching career. Regardless of that, he was the author that gave me the idea to teach and write at the same time. Until I learned about him the thought had never really crossed my mind and I have wanted to pursue that career option ever since.
Christopher Paolini, author of The Inheritance Cycle (Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, and Inheritance) was in college when he published his first book. That book, Eragon became widely popular and really is a good book. Christopher influenced me in a way that has made it a goal of mine to publish my first book within the next four years. While it doesn’t seem like a huge influence it has been lingering in the back of my head for some time and in that time many basic story ideas have come and gone. Christopher also showed me there is no real age at which you become an author, it’s whenever you have an idea and are able to develop it into a book. He also inspired me to work at writing from a young age.
These influences from both my parents and favorite authors have not only inspired me to work hard, but also to pursue my passions which at times can be extremely frustrating. We can be influenced and inspired by almost anything, even if it is something or someone we have either never met or doesn’t even exist. It just has to be something that makes us want to be something more than just average, it’s something that makes us push ourselves to the limit and dare to dream.
While our peers and teachers in school can have great influences on what our passions are, they are not the only ones. In my life, I have many influences that have made me into the person I am today. Those influences have greatly shaped how I choose to go about my life in both an academic and social setting.
On the home front, my parents had a huge impact on who I am today. Naturally aspects of their personality have been passed on to me genetically, but it is so much more than that. My mother, an extremely hard worker has greatly influenced my work ethics. My mom shows me that life is a lot harder than a simple teenager may believe and it requires an enormous amount of effort. I don't like leaving work to be done at the last minute. I like to have the work done early so that when the time comes to hand in the assignment I don't have to worry if I have it all completed.
My dad influenced me in a different way. While he also showed me that work was extremely important he really introduced me to the things that basically make me who I am. When my sister and I were young my dad read countless stories to us. These stories were generally under the genre of fiction or fantasy. It was from these first stories that I developed a passion for the fantastical world and made me want to create stories of my own.
From these stories I began to take on new influences. These influences were not so much the stories themselves, but, rather their authors. The creators of these fantastical tales inspired me to do something more with my life. The authors who I believe have had an enormous impact on myself and my life choices are: JRR Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Rick Riordan, and Christopher Paolini. A majority of these authors were teachers themselves which made me think of the possibility of being a teacher and a writer. Writing has always been an interesting topic for me and I have had a dream of creating my own novel series.
At first these authors were simply an inspiration because of their works, but then I began to look at them and see things I wanted to do that they themselves did. Tolkien was a partial influence on my choice of being a history professor as he himself was a history professor at Oxford in England. It was really because of Tolkien and his stories that I am who I am today. Tolkien's stories were among the first stories my dad read to me and they have always been close to my heart. C.S. Lewis was rather large for me as he worked with Tolkien for a time and I loved The Chronicles of Narnia and how they had such a deeper meaning to their stories than what is on the surface. That was a characteristic I wanted to have when going through my daily life and writing, to see if there is some deeper meaning which can be found and connected to my life. I have always found stories that tell of a world hidden underneath what we consider normal to be fascinating and I wanted to incorporate that into my own life and stories.
Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, The Kane Chronicles, and the Heroes of Olympus series. While these stories influenced my love for fantasy by bringing stories from the past into the present, giving them new life in the modern world, Riordan meant something more. Rick Riordan for a time was an English teacher. Riordan was teaching first and then decided to start writing. For a time he did both at the same time, though recently he has left the teaching career. Regardless of that, he was the author that gave me the idea to teach and write at the same time. Until I learned about him the thought had never really crossed my mind and I have wanted to pursue that career option ever since.
Christopher Paolini, author of The Inheritance Cycle (Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, and Inheritance) was in college when he published his first book. That book, Eragon became widely popular and really is a good book. Christopher influenced me in a way that has made it a goal of mine to publish my first book within the next four years. While it doesn’t seem like a huge influence it has been lingering in the back of my head for some time and in that time many basic story ideas have come and gone. Christopher also showed me there is no real age at which you become an author, it’s whenever you have an idea and are able to develop it into a book. He also inspired me to work at writing from a young age.
These influences from both my parents and favorite authors have not only inspired me to work hard, but also to pursue my passions which at times can be extremely frustrating. We can be influenced and inspired by almost anything, even if it is something or someone we have either never met or doesn’t even exist. It just has to be something that makes us want to be something more than just average, it’s something that makes us push ourselves to the limit and dare to dream.